November 14, 2013

Steve Jobs Rejected the Cell Processor in 2004 & Sony Finally Dumped it for the new PS4

Back in 2005 the New York Times reported that co-founder and CEO of Apple Steve Jobs had met with PlayStation's creator Ken Kutaragi in 2004 to discuss using the Cell chip in future Apple hardware. But Jobs reportedly knocked Kutaragi back, claiming he was not impressed by the performance of the IBM-built Cell processor. Nine years later we see that Steve Jobs got it right as Sony ditches the Cell processor for the PS4.

When push came to shove, Sony decided to license an APU from AMD based on a familiar architecture rather than design another proprietary chip from the ground up for the Playstation 4 because of its experience with the Cell processor, Sony's Dominic Mallinson said at AMD's developer conference on Wednesday.

Mallinson, Sony's VP of R&D for Playstation, admitted on stage that the Cell's complex and somewhat proprietary nature (stemming from IBM's Power architecture) may have stymied game development during the Playstation 3's era.

Mallinson went on to say that "The Cell processor was the precursor to today's accelerated processing units, very much a heterogeneous architecture. But unfortunately it was complicated to use." He further noted that "Developers found it really tough to get to grips with."

In June 2005, Apple officially announced that they would be shifting to Intel processors for their Mac line-up in a press release titled "Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006." Steve Jobs stated at the time that "we think Intel's technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years." It makes you wonder why he limited that statement to a decade or roughly the 2015/2016 timeline. I guess we'll have to see it that statement simply reflected an off-the-cuff remark or a prediction of sorts.